History TearJerker / Overwatch

--> '''Soldier: 76''': I'm not a young man anymore...

* It's implied continuously in Overwatch's lore that the Omnic Crisis was devastating; the 'Are You With Us?' trailer reveals that ''children'' were among those who died when the Omnics attacked.

** Torbjörn foresaw the dangers of using AI-based technology, but no one paid heed to his warnings until it was too late, leading to the Omnic Crisis. If people had listened, then maybe the deaths of thousands of innocent people could've been avoided...

** To rub salt on a wound, King's Row is in England, i.e. [[spoiler: Tracer's home ground.]]

** Mercy lost her parents to war, and never did fully reconcile her calling as a doctor with Overwatch's increasingly militaristic approach to keeping global peace. One interpretation of her choice to become a doctor for Overwatch and use its technologies is so that people can receive the quick medical aid that her parents did not. Also, while she didn't like Overwatch's philosophy, it's clear that she likes the other members; she dressed up for Halloween with Torbjörn (and the photo was sent to Winston).

* The ending to the "Alive" cinematic is kinda depressing. Tracer's badly injured, her Chronal Accelerator harness is badly damaged, and Widowmaker has successfully killed an influential Omnic monk in front of hundreds of civilians - and Tracer was forced to dodge the shot that killed said Omnic. Tracer must be feeling like crap right after that...

* The banning and disbanding of Overwatch for most of its members, who believed in doing good. While some continued (like Mercy), others seemed to have stopped. Although awesome, [[spoiler: Winston's call to them for a reunion is also in some ways sad, for the reunion is as much a way to protect them, as it is to help the world once again (as Reaper is hunting them down). Also, any agent who answers the call automatically becomes an outlaw.]]

* The banning and disbanding of Overwatch for most of its members, who believed in doing good. While some continued (like Mercy), others seemed to have stopped. Although awesome, [[spoiler: Winston's call to them for a reunion is also in some ways sad, for the reunion is as much a way to protect them, as it is to help the world once again (as Reaper is hunting them down).]]

** Reinhardt was one of the founders of Overwatch and believed in its cause wholeheartedly. He was the only one who could effectively keep Overwatch from falling apart. When his superiors decided he was too old to be of any use for Overwatch and forced him into retirement, Reinhardt was forced to watch the organization he helped create fall quickly to internal corruption until it disbanded in disgrace.

** Mercy lost her parents to war, and never did fully reconcile her calling as a doctor with Overwatch's increasingly militaristic approach to keeping global peace. One interpretation of her choice to become a doctor for Overwatch and use its technologies is so that people can receive the quick medical aid that her parents did not.

** Winston was a very intelligent gorilla that was the product of an experiment concerning side-effects of living in space. He was HappilyAdopted by a scientist named Dr. Harold Winston, but the other gorillas living in the space colony grew jealous of Winston and revolted, killing all of the scientists including Winston's adoptive father/mentor, the last one presumably to spite Winston. A troper made a WMG about how Winston's glasses formerly belonged to Dr. Harold, which makes the moment where Reaper steps on them in the cinematic trailer's status as CrowningMomentOfFunny much more debatable.

** Winston was a very intelligent gorilla that was the product of an experiment concerning side-effects of living in space. He was HappilyAdopted by a scientist named Dr. Harold Winston, but the other gorillas living in the space colony grew jealous of Winston and revolted, killing all of the scientists including Winston's adoptive father/mentor, the last one presumably to spite Winston. A troper made a WMG about how Winston's glasses formerly belonged to Dr. Harold, which makes the moment where Reaper steps on them in the cinematic trailer's status as CrowningMomentofFunny much more debatable.

** Mercy lost her parents to war, and never did fully reconciliate her calling as a doctor with Overwatch's militaristic approach to keeping global peace.

*** A comparison of the timeline seems to indicate that Junkrat was ''five'' when the Omnic base exploded. Which would mean that he grew up knowing only the wasteland.

** And then there's Roadhog and Junkrat. Both men were formerly men who lived in the Australian Outback. However, they were sold out by their government when, as part of a peace deal, the human governments agreed to hand over the Outback to the Omnics. Obviously, the people living in the Outback didn't agree with this and staged a guerrilla war. However, their efforts [[GoneHorriblyRight went horribly right]] when they attacked the Omnic base, inadvertently detonating its reactor and turning the entire Outback into an irradiated wasteland. Roadhog, who led the guerrillas, went mad from a combination of guilt and the radition, while the radiation also drove Junkrat to madness and caused his obsession with explosives.

** Hanzo was a member of a powerful Yazuka-esque clan of assassins who was forced to kill his beloved little brother Genji by the orders of his clan's elders, simply because said brother refused to participate in his family's criminal activities. This traumatized Hanzo so much that he rejected his clan and attempted to restore his personal honor by killing his enemies.

** Tracer was an ordinary test pilot until an accident regarding an experimental teleporting jet fighter plane left her unable to maintain physical form and also caused her to disappear for days. Even though Winston helped her by building a wearable device that made her "unstuck" (and gave her cool powers), Tracer's story is no different from someone getting into a debilitating accident that left him/her physically disabled and reliant on what is akin to life support in RealLife.

** Hanzo was a member of a powerful Yazuka-esque clan of assassins who was forced to kill his beloved little brother by the orders of his clan's elders, simply because said brother refused to participate in his family's criminal activities. This traumatized Hanzo so much that he rejected his clan and attempted to restore his personal honor by killing his enemies.

** And then there's Roadhog and Junkrat. Both men were formerly men who lived in the Australian Outback. However, they were sold out by their government when, as part of a peace deal, the human governments agreed to hand over the Outback to the Omnics. Obviously, the people living in the Outback didn't agree with this and staged a guerrilla war. However, their efforts [[GoneHorriblyRight went horribly right]] when they attacked the Omnic base, inadvertently detonating its reactor and turning the entire Outback into an irradiated wasteland. Roadhog, who led the guerrillas, went mad from a combination of guilt and the radition. Junkrat probably went crazy from the explosion as well, or maybe he was crazy to begin with...

** Roadhog was once a member of a rebellion that attempted to take back the Australian Outback from the omnics after the government gave it to them in hopes of establishing peace, only for the whole thing to escalate into a catastrophic explosion that turned the Outback into an apocalyptic wasteland. As a result of this, Roadhog slowly started to lose the humanity he once had, becoming the ruthless killer we have today.

** Roadhog was once a member of a rebellion that attempted to take back the Australian Outback from the omnics after the government gave it to them in hopes of establishing peace, only for the whole thing to escalate into a catastrophic explosion that turned the Outback into an apocalyptic wasteland. As a result of this, Roadhog slowly started to lose the humanity he once had, becoming the ruthless killer we have today.

** Roadhog was once a member of a rebellion that attempted to take back the Australian Outback from the omnics after the government gave it to them in hopes of establishing peace, only for the whole thing to escalate into a catastrophic explosion that turned the Outback into an apocalyptic wasteland. As a result of this, Roadhog slowly started to lose any shred of humanity he once had, becoming the rutheless killer we have today.

** Winston was a very intelligent gorilla that was the product of an experiment concerning side-effects of living in space. He was HappilyAdopted by a scientist named Dr. Harold Winston, but the other gorillas living in the space colony grew jealous of Winston and revolted, killing all of the scientists including Winston's adoptive father/mentor, the last one presumably to spite Winston. A troper made a WMG about how Winston's glasses formerly belonged to Dr. Harold, which makes the moment where Reaper steps on them in the cinematic trailer's status as CrowningMomentofFunny much more debatable.

** Soldier: 76 was originally an idealistic man named Jack Morrison, who founded Overwatch to counteract the Omnic Crisis and help people across the world. But soon the very organization he found fell to internal corruption, and people began blaming Overwatch for not stopping enough bad guys. By the time Overwatch fell completely, Jack became bitter, vengeful, and developed WellIntentionedExtremist tendencies. He still fights the bad guys, but the fact that he uses morally ambiguous methods to do it shows just how far he's fallen from the person who started out as a WideEyedIdealist.

** Winston was a very intelligent gorilla that was the product of an experiment concerning side-effects of living in space. He was HappilyAdopted by a scientist named Dr. Harold Winston, but the other gorillas living in the space colony grew jealous of Winston and revolted, killing all of the scientists including Winston's adoptive father/mentor, the last one presumably to spite Winston. A troper made a WMG about how Winston's glasses formerly belonged to Dr. Harold, which makes the moment where Reaper steps on them in the cinematic trailer all the more sadder.